


summers of stars

by teasockschocolate



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Baby Percabeth, Canon Compliant, Constellations, F/M, Friendship, Growing Up, Just some cute little beans, PJO series, Post Series, Pre HOO, Pre-Relationship, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-24 07:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17700386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teasockschocolate/pseuds/teasockschocolate
Summary: "Percy studied the constellations -– the ones Annabeth had taught him so many years ago."-snapshots of baby percabeth + stars across the  PJO series inspired from that house of hades quote





	1. the lightning thief

**Author's Note:**

> so a kind of random idea i had but i was like hey it's cute

Percy had never seen so many stars as he had at Camp. Growing up in Manhattan, the smog and blinding billboard light had given the sky a weird shade of yellow throughout the night. At camp though the sky seemed to stretch for thousands of miles with millions of stars hanging above. With only two weeks left in summer, he wanted to soak as much of the natural beauty and peace camp offered before he had to go back to the real world.

Annabeth had offered to teach him more constellations, a tradition started on late nights on the quest when they both couldn’t sleep. They lay at the base of Half-Blood Hill shoulder to shoulder looking up at the sky.

“And that one’s Cancer,” Annabeth’s arm stretched up, finger tracing out five stars. “It’s my zodiac.”

“Your what?”

“Zodiac sign. Some cultures believe the constellation which you were born under determines your behaviors.”

“But cancer’s also a disease? Oh, maybe that’s why no one likes you.”

She shoved him. 

“Anyway,” He could just hear her rolling her eyes. “Hera summoned a giant crab to kill Hercules but Hercules killed it. Zeus but the constellation of the crab in the sky to remind Hera of her failure.”

“So that entire constellation is just one big ‘screw you’ to Hera?”

“Yep.”

“Awesome.”

She snorted and Percy felt a twinge of satisfaction.

“Thanks, um, for teaching me.” 

In the corner of his eye he saw Annabeth twist her head a fraction to look at him. She gave him a small smile. “Anytime, Seaweed Brain.”

“Still on that?”

She turned her head more towards him, smirking. “Eh, you love it.”

“Do I?”

“You’ll learn to.”

He stuck his tongue out at her and she did it back before stretching out on the grass. His feet ended around her ankles and he tried to stretch himself out so their height difference wasn’t so embarrassing. Yeah, it didn’t work. It was quiet between them then, but Percy was glad it wasn’t as tense between them as it’d been before. Annabeth could still be really annoying and they still bickered, but she was easily one of the best (even if only) friends he’d ever had. 

“Did you decide if you’re staying the year or not?” She asked. 

“Nope.”

She shrugged. “You’ve still got some time.”

“What do you think I should do?”

She arched an eyebrow. “You’re asking for my advice?”

“Well, you’ll probably give it anyway.” 

She made a face but didn’t deny it. 

“I think this is something you’ve gotta do on your own. You’d be safest here, obviously, but it may be nice to be in the real world for a while before—” She abruptly stopped talking.

“Before what?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Just… um, you know, there’s more monsters or something.”

That was obviously not what she was going to say, but he didn’t see her caving anytime soon so he just nodded stupidly. He hated this –– whatever people weren’t telling him. Bad enough his birth was a mistake that threw off the whole universe. Then on top of that everyone treated him like he was too young or stupid to know what was going on. 

“We should go to bed. Harpies will be out soon.”

“Right.”

Annabeth hopped to her feet, holding out a hand to pull Percy up. He sent a quick prayer that his hands weren’t too sweaty. 

“Goodnight, Seaweed Brain.”

“Night…Bird Head.”

She smirked. “Not quite there yet.”

“I’ll get there.”

“We’ll see.” She laughed for real and turned towards the Athena cabin, offering a small wave as she jogged across the lawn.


	2. sea of monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after the sirens
> 
> (okay so i know canonically they got to the island like RIGHT after the sirens scene but i figured it wasn't really that big of a deal and honestly lets let the kids rest for five minutes)

“I’m sorry.”

Percy’d thought Annabeth had been asleep. His head snapped over to her, bundled up on the ship deck, eyes trained on the waterline. 

“What?”

“I was stupid,” Her voice was thick. “I’m sorry.”

“You weren’t stupid,” Percy took a step closer to her. “This time,” He added, trying to crack a smile out of her. (And he sort of didn’t want to get into too serious of a conversation. There’d been enough depressing things going on lately.)

“Gee, thanks.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Thank you though,” She turned her attention to wrapping a wet curl tightly around her finger. “For real.”

“Uh, yeah. Anytime. Sorry for not disarming you.”

“Yeah, bad move on your part.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding, kidding,” She raised her hands in surrender and then shook her head, prompting another indigent scoff from him. 

“I wish I let you drown.”

“Sorry, should we go back?”

“Yeah, hold on.” He shifted the waves beneath them, just enough to rock the boat and make her lose her balance. If some water splashed up on her, that was totally an accident. 

“What?” He asked, all to innocently, when she glared at him.

“I’ll get you back, Jackson.”

“Oh yeah? What’re you going to do, lecture me?”

She stiffened and he immediately panicked. Too far, too far. She’d mentioned once or twice being jealous that other demigods got physical powers. 

“Sorry,” He winced. “I didn’t mean—I wasn’t—You could totally beat me up, I’m sorry.”

She didn’t answer and he started cursing himself all over again. He crouched down to so he wasn’t standing over her anymore. 

“Annabeth…”

“You didn’t mean it. I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not missing anything. I know that I’m smarter than anyone else.”

“And more humble.”

“Shut up.”

“Yep.”

“I don’t feel like any less of a demigod because I don’t have powers. But I don’t want other people to think I am.”

“I don’t think people do. You’re one of the scariest people I’ve ever met.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

“I say that as a friend. Please don’t hurt me.”

She smirked. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Look,” Percy shifted uncomfortably. He really wasn’t great at pep talks or emotional stuff. He wished his mom was here. Or Grover. Even Tyson might be able to say something nice to her now. But it was just Percy here so he had to just man up and actually talk to Annabeth.

“You can’t have it all, right? You’re crazy smart and a great fighter. That’s enough for you to be a hero. If you also had, like, fire powers or something that’d be just not fair. You’re…” He wanted to say “perfect” but that felt too… intimate or something. “Good… just the way you are.”

She pursed her lips but her eyes sparkled a little. “Thanks, Seaweed Brain.”

“Really? I’m super nice and I get ‘Seaweed Brain’?”

“Would you expect anything less?”

Percy sighed dramatically. “I guess not.”

“But you said yourself I’m good the way I am so it’s fine. I can do whatever.”

“I regret everything.” 

But Annabeth was laughing now, so his job was done. 

She craned her neck back, leaning her head against the mast. “Whoa. Look up.”

He followed her gaze and his jaw dropped a little. If he’d thought there’d been stars at Camp, it was nothing compared to out in the middle of the ocean. Billions of billions of white dots stretched all the way across the sky.

“You didn’t say there were even more constellations.” 

“I didn’t know.” She said breathlessly, even without the usual bitterness when she admitted to not having an immediate answer to something. He decided not to tease her about it. “I mean, I knew there was more than we saw at Camp but I never imagined there could be this many.”

“Yeah,”

She shifted over and offered some blanket which he gratefully took – night sea breezes weren’t particularly warm. He joined her against the mast, raising his head to the stars. It was nice, he thought, to just sit and look at the sky. They could pretend the world wasn’t ending and that they weren’t fighting for their lives. They could just be kids sitting in a weirdly comfortable silence and looking at the stars.

“You should get some sleep.” Percy said after a while. “We should be there in the morning.”

“What about you?”

“I’m fine taking first watch. You went through more today. Plus you’re literally green from the ship.”

Annabeth smiled. “Okay. Thanks, Seaweed Brain.” She stood up and playfully dropped the blanket over him. She ruffled his hair and ducked below deck. He totally didn’t watch how the light from the moon hit her blonde hair and made it kind of glow-y. Definitely not like an angel.


	3. titans curse

The stars seemed brighter from Olympus. Thanks to New York being a cesspool of buildings and way too many people, the night sky always was more purple, with blinking planes on their way to LaGuardia being the closest thing that Percy would see to a star. Far above the pollution though, stars were suspended over the oblivious New Yorkers, covering the city. The celebration of the winter solstice went on behind him, but Percy kept his arms looped over the rails, leaning down over his city. 

Zoe Nightshade’s constellation seemed to sit directly over Times Square, a place, Percy thought, she probably wouldn’t have liked very much. The traffic and the flashing colors and the idiot tourists stopping to take a picture every three steps would have made her fingers itch towards her quiver and knuckles whiten around her bow. 

She wouldn’t stay there forever though when the Earth spun. Annabeth had explained all that a long time ago when he’d complained about the constellations never being in the same place. He vaguely remembered learning about the solar system in school, but Annabeth had explained it in a way that actually made sense. (until she went on about gravitational pulls and his eyelids had nearly drooped over). 

“Hey,”

Speak of the devil. 

Percy had spent the past several days thinking of nothing but Annabeth, desperate to save her, and now she was back but his stomach twisted every time he’d look at her. She hadn’t joined the Hunters, which had eased his anxiety a bit. Just because he didn’t want to lose his friend. But Athena’s words were still ringing in his ears along with Annabeth’s about Luke. 

“Hey,”

“What’re you doing out here?”

He shrugged and Annabeth nodded like that was an acceptable enough answer. She stuck her feet on a rail and pulled herself up. A little annoyed she was now even taller than he, he mimicked her, stretching a bit higher. She saw exactly what he was doing and smirked. 

“Long day.” 

He nodded again and now the silence between them was just awkward.

Annabeth tipped herself halfway over the side in the annoyingly fearless way she did everything. Percy, not so much.

“Maybe you almost die only once today?” He suggested.

She rolled her eyes but leaned back. 

“So what now?”

“Luke will probably lay low for a little. Then––”

“Annabeth…”

“––we’ll have to stop him from going any further. If they lose him than maybe––”

“Annabeth, he’s––”

“He’s not dead, Percy. I told you that.”

“You can’t be sure.”

“I told you, I am.”

“Even if he’s not dead what makes you think you can save him? Why can’t you just accept that he’s evil?”

“You don’t know him, Percy.” Annabeth was hard. “I do.”

“He tried to kill you.”

“He wouldn’t have gone through with it.”

“He would’ve killed Thalia if she hadn’t pushed him off.”

“No.”

“Are you hearing yourself?” Percy got off the railing now and threw his hands in the air. “He trapped you under the sky. You would have died if it wasn’t for Artemis.”

Annabeth started. “How do you know that?”

“I, uh, had dreams… about you.”

Annabeth’s cheeks colored a little. “Oh.”

“I mean, it was helpful… for us to see where you were.”

“Yeah.”

“I saw what he did to you,” Percy tried to make his tone a little nicer. “I just… I know you guys were…close. I feel like he wants to use that to hurt you.”

“Yeah, he’s changed,” Annabeth huffed. “But he’s not gone yet. Not really.”

He opened his mouth to fight back but couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t further crack open the Luke-shaped gap growing between them. “Fine.”

“Thanks, by the way,” Annabeth said quietly after a few beats of awkward silence.

He lowered his eyebrows.

“Thalia told me, well she was mostly complaining, that you weren’t supposed to go on the quest so you snuck off. To find me.” She rushed the last part, biting her reddening cheek.

“You’d do the same for me,” Percy looked out at the city, hoping she couldn’t hear the obnoxious hammering in his chest.

“Yeah,” She smiled a little. “But I’d rather you just stay put so I can keep you out of trouble.”

“I’ll try.” 

She smiled more fully in return and pushed herself off of the ledge. “C’mon, Seaweed Brain,” She straightened with mock formality. “We have a god party to get back to.”

He rolled his eyes and she laughed, turning away from him and slipping back into the crowd. He watched the new grey streak dance among her blonde curls until Athena glared at him and he quickly looked away before she blasted him or turned him into something gross.


	4. battle of the labyrinth

The June after the Labyrinth, his mom got married and he had never seen anyone so deserving of the happiness she radiated. 

Paul had proposed on Christmas and they’d been married in the spring in a park on Long Island. The ceremony was small – some members of Paul’s family and a few of his mom’s friends from her writing group. Percy had walked Sally down the aisle and she’d cried and he’d teared up too. After so long of his mom putting up with so much crap for him, she was finally letting herself be happy. It was good that she had Paul. A tiny part of him was glad she’d have someone if the summer went the way it was supposed to and Percy… well…. He tried not to think of that. It was hard to be all dark when his mom was so happy, and that’s what he wanted to focus on.

His mom had invited Annabeth as well, smug at his reddened ears when she told him. His mom loved Annabeth, called her the daughter she never had. Percy personally didn’t appreciate when they’d gang up on him, but he liked how comfortable Annabeth seemed around her. Annabeth hadn’t exactly had the best maternal figures growing up – her mother’s absence, her stepmother’s coldness, Thalia turning into a tree -- and he knew his mom was the best there was. Still, he hadn’t exactly expected Annabeth to come. Her new school was in the city, so they’d met up a few times to try to study or just anything normal before the world fell apart. Sometimes they were able to joke and fall back into the lighthearted friendship they’d had when they were still young and innocent enough to have some hope for the world. They’d laugh and things would seem good. 

Sometimes he’d look across the library table at her and he’d feel brave enough to ask if Mount St. Helens had been an impulsive I-thought-you-were-going-to-die or if it’d meant something, and then Luke or Rachel would show up in conversation and the moment would be gone and they’d be at each other’s throats. Most times though, everything unspoken hung heavy between them and one or both would make up some excuse to cut the meeting early. Each time was just more tense than the last and empty threats over a game of Mario Kart turned into a real argument where they said things they didn’t mean (Well, he didn’t mean them. He hoped she didn’t either) and she’d stormed out of his apartment and  
they seemed to reach an unspoken agreement to just not see each other. 

But she had shown up and was unfairly beautiful in a light purple dress and her hair tamed and hanging down her back in pretty corkscrew curls. She sat alone in the back and seemed determined to look at anything but Percy when he did a double-take before the ceremony. 

Now was the reception and Percy was very obviously the youngest (besides her) at the party. He’d awkwardly made small talk with the guests, purposely looking away from the lone figure at the furthest table. He didn’t want to be a jerk and ignore Annabeth, but he didn’t want to say something that’d end in them causing a scene and ruining his mom’s wedding. Then his mom pulled him away for a dance and he thought maybe this is how he was going to cause a scene by accident. 

“Sorry in advance,” He gestured as the music started.

She shushed him, taking his hand and swaying a little.

“I’m so happy for you, Mom,” 

She framed his face in her hands. “When did you get so tall?”

“Honestly, it’s about time.”

“Never.”  
They’d danced for maybe twenty seconds before he was tripping over his own feet. His eyes accidentally met Annabeth’s across the room. A muscle in her jaw jumped and he was taken back to tripping over her years ago in that creepy military school. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“You just need more practice,” Sally teased.

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

Sally followed his previous gaze and smirked. She blew Annabeth a light kiss who smiled and gave a small wave in return.

“She looks beautiful tonight, doesn’t she?” Sally was smiling way too knowingly when she turned back to Percy and he had to force himself to look away from Annabeth.

“Mom,” He groaned.

“Maybe next you could practice dancing with her.”

“You’re all I need, Mom,” Percy lifted his arm to twirl her. 

She dropped it after that and their conversation turned to the wedding cake and how she would still not tell him if it was blue. The song ended and she patted his chest with a soft “talk to her.” 

It’s not that he didn’t want to. There was an extremely annoying part of him that was constantly pulling towards Annabeth. His stomach clenched at seeing her again which was stupid because he’d seen her a thousand times and while she’d always put him a little on edge, he’d never been this downright nervous around her. Still, he owed her a thousand times over and the part that wasn’t terrified was aching to talk to her again.

“Hey,” He sat a chair away from her, giving her plenty of room to run if she wanted.

“Hey,” Her head shot up and her eyes flickered between him and the chair between them.

“I didn’t expect you to come.”

“Of course. I wanted to see your mom.” Her words came out harsh and a not you was all but said. They both winced a little. “Sorry. It’s, uh, nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, yeah, you too.” The typical angry silence wasn’t there, but this was just so awkward. “Um, thanks for coming.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Percy found himself wanting her to mock his dancing, to tease him about being dressed up then he could tease her for the same thing and tug one of her free curls like he’d done when they were 12 and he was feeling particularly brave. Even just to hear her call him Seaweed Brain would be music to his ears at this point. Since when were they so polite to each other?

He raised his eyes up, looking across the expanse. The stars were different now. They didn’t just hold stories she’d tell him when they both couldn’t sleep, but held a constant reminder of Zoe and the sacrifices to come in the next few months. 

“Cancer’s bright tonight.” 

He couldn’t see her but could picture the gears turning in her brain as she thought of how to respond. He waited for her to make some hasty excuse to go, but instead she craned her neck back and said “Good eye.”

“Learned from the best.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, Chiron.”

She wrinkled her nose and elbowed him and for a second they were back. This position, side by side looking up at the sky, was so achingly familiar but it felt like a lifetime had passed since they were scrawny kids looking out at the world with eager eyes. What had happened to them? There was so much he wanted to say to her now but he just couldn’t get the words out. A less proud part of him didn’t want to. He was so tired all the time, had so much on his shoulders, he didn’t have the energy to hash this out. Still, he missed her. He hoped she knew that. 

“I should go,” She looked down at her lap, twisting her hands together.

“Oh, okay.”

She stood up awkwardly. “Just, you know, it’s late.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you alright getting back?” Percy stood up too, instinctively twisting his pen between his fingertips.

“Think I can’t protect myself, Seaweed Brain?”

“No, I just—” He quickly tried to backpedal but saw she was smiling.

“It’s cool. You should be with your mom.” She lightly punched his shoulder, immediately wincing at the awkwardness of it all. “See you soon.” 

“Bye, Annabeth,”

She flashed a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes and walked over to say goodbye to his mom, a confusing mass of lilac and swinging hair that tightened his stomach with every bounce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay folks so here's the deal: this is all i have so far. is a last olympian chapter wanted? let me know! thanks to everyone who's read this much!!!


	5. the last olympian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here you go! thanks to everyone who read this story! it was a fun time. i also wrote a little epilogue/post pjo series that I'll upload soon
> 
> thanks so much to @annabeth-in-olympus for the help brainstorming!!

“I can’t do this without you.” He whispered into the quiet ( _too quiet_ ) summer air.

Annabeth’s face wasn’t so pale anymore and her shoulder looked a lot better but it didn’t stop the roll of guilt in his stomach every time he looked at her. Didn’t stop the obsessive checking for proof she was breathing.

Her eyes were closed but he didn’t know if she was sleeping. He continued talking to her anyway –– Annabeth knew everything no matter what. The thought of her smirking as she corrected him didn’t bother him this time, only sent a fleeting pang as he prayed for the thousandth time that night for her to be okay.

“I have no idea what I’m doing.” He confessed, folding his hands over his face. “You could be dying because you saved me. I can’t… You can’t… Oh, gods,”

“You’ll be fine.” Her voice was a little hoarse and she cracked a bleary eye open. “I mean, not as good as me, but fine.”

He laughed a little, sinking onto the ground next to her chair.

“You’ve got this, Seaweed Brain.”

“What would I do without you?”

“Oh, you’d have died a long time ago.”

Percy went to snap something back but then thought of how hours ago she’d intercepted a knife for him and felt the roll of guilt again.

“Stop it.” She’d opened her other eye now and was looking more fully at him. “It’s not your fault.”

“I wasn’t paying attention.”

“He was behind you. It was my side to watch.”

“If I had––”

“Hey,” Annabeth shot him a look. “It was my fight. I chose to intercept it. I knew exactly what I was doing.”

He pursed his lips.

“You just owe me even more now.” She echoed her words from earlier, raising a corner of her mouth.

“Yeah,” He hadn’t realized she’d been conscious enough earlier to really remember anything. He remembered her saying he was cute, but then more quickly remembered her story about Luke. “Oh, so, you know how I thought I blacked out? Up on Olympus?”

“When you looked at Hestia and fell?”

“Yeah… She showed me something.”

Annabeth frowned. “What? Kronos?”

“No… uh… it was you.”

“What?”

“And Thalia and Luke. She showed me the night they found you." 

A weird shadow crossed her face.

“Pretty impressive hammer.” Percy tried for a joke but it didn’t land with her. He still thought the image of a wild little Annabeth running the streets of Richmond wielding a hammer (now, knowing she'd turned out safe) was funny, if not weirdly endearing.

“Heh, yeah.” She looked down at her hands. “Why’d she show you that?”

“She told me… earlier when Nico and I went to see his mom,”

“She’s crazy. I met her once.”

“Yeah, I uh, saw that too.”

“Oh,”

“But anyway, she told me ‘to understand your enemy, you must understand his family.’ And I thought it just meant his mom, but then she showed me that.”

Annabeth had paled on the word “family.”

“You think it has to do with the prophecy?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Something to do with you too, I’d think. With what Janus said last year.”

Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t know, Percy.” She was quiet for a while after that. “Do you get it now though?”

“What?”

“You always get mad that I… when I mention Luke.”

“I just––”

“But do you get it now? Why I can’t hate him? Even though I want to.”

Percy thought of the little girl blinking up with huge gray eyes. When Percy thought of Luke, he thought of all the times he’d tried to kill him, all the times he’s manipulated Annabeth. But when she thought of him… maybe it wasn’t the way Percy’d always thought. Annabeth saw the scar-less boy who smiled at her and gave her his knife. She saw the first person to promise to always protect her. 

“Family,” He echoed quietly.

“That’s what he always told me.” Annabeth looked at her hands. “When Thalia was gone, he said we were all each other had in the world.”

“And that’s what you grew up on.”

“He was my _hero_. I can’t just forget about life before.”

“He did.”

“He _didn’t_.” Annabeth closed her eyes again. “He can’t have. If Hestia showed you that scene, it’s important. 

“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Then don’t.” Annabeth opened her eyes. “Not many stars here, huh?”

The city sky was purpley with just a few stringy clouds.

“Not even an airplane. We could play ‘guess what this gross air is going to do to our lungs.’”

“Ooh, that’s fun.” She tried for a smile but seemed close to being pulled under again by whatever Will had given her.

“You should get some more rest though.” Percy noted the shadows under her eyes. “You don’t look so good.”

“Gee, thanks.” Annabeth rolled her eyes. “You look fantastic too.”

“It comes with being invulnerable and all that.”

She huffed.

“But, Annabeth… thanks. For having my back. Today and just, like, every other time the past years. Can’t have been easy.”

She smiled. “Always, Seaweed Brain.”

“Goodnight, Wise Girl.”

“’Night.” She shuffled a little on the lawnchair. Percy put his hand on her good shoulder and awkwardly patted it. If he were a little braver he may have hugged her, maybe kissed her hair. He wonder if it still smelled like lemons.


	6. extra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so it's not exactly post series but they're together so *shrug*
> 
> this is set in between the underwater kiss and the end of the summer

Everything was different at camp. New cabins were being built up, satyrs brought new half-blood from gods Percy had never heard of, Rachel had started scouting out caves (for her ‘Oracle-ing’ she called it.) They had lost too many demigods in the war. The funeral pryes had lasted a week. Every cabin head gave a eulogy for each of their lost siblings. For the first time, Percy was glad it was only him in Cabin Three. 

Luke’s shroud hadn’t been burned with the others. He’d been a hero at the end but hadn’t exactly deserved to be honored alongside the people he aided in killing. Instead, Thalia and Annabeth had laid a simple light blue shroud into the fire late one night, with Chiron’s permission. Grover and Percy had gone too and sat a little away from the girls. No words were spoken. As the shroud burned, Thalia tucked an arm around Annabeth  and pulled her into her side like she was still a kid. Like Thalia could still protect her and they hadn’t seen more in their teenage years than could be imagined in a lifetime. Neither of the girls cried. Annabeth had confessed to Percy earlier that she was a little relieved to have Luke gone. Her childhood hero had been gone for a while and she could finally let him go.

The war had changed everyone, but Percy liked to think the survivors were stronger now because of it. Camp was different, but he felt closer to it now. He knew the campers better, felt even more of a connection and at home with this part of his life. (And he didn’t have the weight of being about to die over him anymore, which was pretty cool.)

But like he had every summer since he was twelve, he stretched out on the hill beside Annabeth looking up at the sky. Except this time her fingers were laced with his. That was _definitely_ different. He thought back to last year when they couldn’t say a word to each other without hurting each other and tightened his hand a little more.

“We did it.” Annabeth whispered.

“Yeah,” 

A little impulsively, he turned and quickly kissed her temple because he could now. (And watching her fight too hard to hide her smile was kind of funny. He savored the moments that she was bad at something).

“Did you think we’d win?”

A typical new boyfriend would probably have some suave macho line about not being afraid of anything, but this was Annabeth who knew him better than he knew himself, so he said “I had no idea.”

“Me neither.”

“ _Annabeth_ didn’t have an _answer_?” He teased in mock astonishment.

“Watch it!” She pulled her hand out of his to shove him.

“Not even denying she was wrong. This may be the best moment of my life.”

She scoffed. “If this is you best moment I’d better find someone who appreciates me.”

“I do, I do,”

 “Good.” She scooched over a little, lightly touching her head to his shoulder.

Percy’s heart rate quickened and he hoped his palm wasn’t too sweaty. It was so weird –– them. A good weird. An awesome, everything-you-didn’t-really-know-how-much-you-wanted-because-you-thought-you’d-never-have-it weird. But still, super weird because it was _Annabeth_. And it was very new. Ten days and three hours but, you know, who’s counting? (Him, he absolutely was).

“I wish you didn’t have to go all the way back to San Francisco.” He lowered his head to lean against Annabeth’s.

“What if I didn’t?”

He pulled back to look down at her (ha, _he_ got to look down at _her_ now.) “What?”

“I was thinking,” A smile played on her face. “It might make the most sense for me to stay in New York. Then I be closer to Olympus to oversee the rebuilding.”

“And close to me?” He asked.

“Well,” She rolled her eyes. “Someone’s got a sense of his own importance.” But she laced her fingers back through his.

“I know, I know, I can’t compare to Olympus. I’m lucky the big-shot architect lets me get this close to her.”

Annabeth blushed. “You really are, aren’t you?”

“Architect of Olympus.” Percy nudged her and she beamed, turning her face into his shoulder. He took the opportunity to kiss her hair. (Still lemony.) “I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks,” Annabeth pulled back. “I’m pretty proud of you too, Almost-Was-A-God.”

Percy pulled a face. “I’m good with not being eternally sixteen.” 

“And you would’ve missed me.”

“Wow, someone’s got a sense of _her_ own importance.”

She just raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” He felt his face heat up. “I’d’ve missed you.”

Annabeth didn’t try to hide her smile this time and she tilted up to kiss him. It was short, but enough to double his heart rate. She didn’t kiss him that often –– they were still trying to navigate when it was okay to even hold hands or anything –– but every time she did, his brain turned a little more seaweed-y.

“I know.” She said again when she pulled back.

“Of course you do.”

She shrugged, self-assured, and craned her neck back to the sky. “I’ll miss all these stars in your polluted city.”

“So you’re gonna stay in New York?”

“I’ll talk to my dad. See if he can find me a boarding school up here. If he says no then I’ll just stay at camp.”

“You could come to my school.” Percy suggested, hopefully not too quickly.

“No, I’d still need to stay somewhere,”

“You could––“

“Don’t rent out your mother’s couch, she's been through enough.” Annabeth teased. “That’s very sweet. Really. But I can figure it out and it’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” Percy huffed. “But then you can’t see me every day.”

“You’ve never seen me every day except for when we’re fighting for our lives.”

They both froze.

“Do you think… do we know how to be around each other, like, normally?”

“Yeah,” Percy lowered his eyebrows. “I mean, it’ll be different. But we’re been friends outside of quests.”

 _Not lately_ hung unspoken.

“It’s been different the past year.” Annabeth said finally. “A lot’s happened. The war’s over, the prophecy’s over, you’ve ‘fessed up to be harboring a love for me for years,”

“I don’t remember saying _that_ ,”

“Didn’t need to.” Annabeth teased.

He stuck his tongue out her and she did it right back.

“So _anyway_ ,” She continued. “It’ll be different but it’s a good different. We can do anything.”

“Anyone ever tell you you can be smart sometimes?”

“Want to rephrase that?”

“O, Wise One––“

Annabeth kissed him again (maybe to shut him up, maybe because she loved an ego boost, Percy didn’t really care).

“We should go to bed,” She said reluctantly. “Harpies will be out soon.”

Percy agreed and flashed back years ago to this very spot, almost that very sentence. He stood up, eagerly extending his hands to help her up. She never _needed_ his help, she reminded him, but let him anyway. He dropped her off a few feet away from the Athena porch (Athena didn’t like him getting too close to the cabin, especially not with Annabeth. He’d learned the hard way the one time he kissed her on the porch and was pushed off the steps by an unseen force. Now he kept his distance).

“’Night, Wise Girl.” 

She leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Goodnight, Seaweed Brain.” 

This time when he watched the moon and her hair, she definitely looked like an angel.

**Author's Note:**

> lets be friends on tumblr! @teasockschocolate


End file.
